Slovenia
	SLOVENIA Submit a Tale here | More Tales One place that pops up very rarely on backpacking or travelling websites is Slovenia. Earlier this year, we visited this beautiful little central European country and came away absolutely astounded that it isn't overrun by tourists. We travelled to the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana from Venice. It is an amazingly short journey by train, so it's hard to understand why more people don't make an effort to go that little bit further east and over the border. From the border, the train rolls through forests and snow covered (in February at least) hills eventually arriving in Ljubljana. People have described this city as being the next Prague. This isn't strictly true, as it is quite small and lacking in the grand architecture that makes Prague so impressive, it feels more like a large town compared to other European capitals. Where it does resemble Prague, though, is in the extremely attractive young people that are to be found all over the city (the result of there being a large university) and in the generally Bohemian air about the place. Even in winter, there were people sitting outside cafes and soaking up the infrequent bursts of sunshine breaking through the clouds, and the bars and pubs are superb. The city centre itself is gorgeous, with superbly tatty old buildings everywhere (sorry, my ability to pin point actual eras is minimal), cobbled streets, statues and a pretty little castle perched atop a hill from which you can survey the whole city. Accommodation in the city centre is rare and expensive, and there are few hostels, so you really have to search for somewhere to stay. When you do find somewhere - and there's only one official hostel in the city - it will invariably be out in the city's suburbs. As with any major city, and particularly Eastern European ones, the outer suburbs are hideous, so you'll probably end up spending as little time in the hostel as possible. This isn't a bad idea, though, as the Old Town is such a pleasure to be in. From Ljubljana, we travelled to Bled, probably Slovenia's most famous tourist destination. The town (pop.3000) sits in the middle of the Julian Alps - Slovenia's end of Europe's main mountain range - on the edge of a glorious green alpine lake. A castle sits on top of a cliff overlooking the lake and in the middle of the lake there's a small island with a chapel on it. The lake freezes over in winter but at other times, you can hire a punt to get to the island and ring the chapel bell for good luck. The scenery around Bled is incredible, with huge snowcapped mountains, deep forests and small lakes. About a ten minute walk from the town there's even a small ski slope. Bled has one youth hostel, which is clean and comfortable. From Bled, you can take a bus ride to Bohinj, which is a larger lake. From the edge of Bohinj, a cable car takes you hundreds of metres into the air to the top of one of the nearby mountains. We bought a ticket for the cable car and sat there while curious. Slovenians in ski gear stared at us and listened intently while we spoke English. Not knowing what to expect, we got out of the car at the top and found ourselves standing in the middle of a Slovenian ski resort. We were the only people there not skiing, and were the objects of intense curiosity. It was like stumbling onto a lost world. The view from the top of this mountain was breath taking, it was like being on the roof of the world. There were mountains all around us but we were higher than any of them. The cable car ride back down was white knuckle stuff. From Bled we went back to Ljubljana and then on to Croatia, which is another story. We obviously only saw a slice of Slovenia, not the whole thing, but from what we hear there are plenty of other Slovenian destinations that are just as amazing as the places we went. The country is quite cheap, the people are lovely, the scenery is amazing, the beer is good and the food is big and tasty, and, best of all, if you go now, you'll have it all to yourself.